Contents page analysis

Contents Analysis Pages

The four contents pages we analysed were; Q Magazine, Mixmag, NME and We love pop. All of these magazines are set out in different ways, aimed at different target audiences and are all about many different types of interests. Each magazine has their own individual lay out of pictures, colours and fonts.

Mixmag has a different name compared to the others, their name may show that they have a mixture of many things within the magazine. This is shown on the contents page by having pages separated into different categories such as; Fashion, Tunes and Features. Because they magazine shows a big interest on fashion and music, the target audience may be based around older teenagers to young adults, but in an age range of 16-24. The pictures on the contents page have been put against a plain black background, this may be because with the pictures being so bright, it will be able to make them stand out more than they would on for example, a red background. The contents page shows a variety of 4 different pictures, all of these pictures have number page on which means they have something to do with that certain article. The big main picture shows a close up of a girl dressed in a bright pink top with bright make up, this shows a relation to the article because in the brief of what it is about it states that 'fashion is colourful'. Like this one, the other pictures show close ups and a group shot all with briefs of what the article they are related to is about. The language on the contents page is very brief, this is done in way that makes you want to read the article. It states what is happening on that page E.G. Love Bullets. Under what it says is on the page it briefly explains what it is, E.G. under Love Bullets it says 'Jewellery brand makes love not war' This makes the audience more likely to want to see what the article is actually about, or from the small plain brief, want to see more.

NME is a completely different magazine to Mixmag. This is because from the contents page we are able to tell that it is more likely to be based on rock music and have a target audience for mainly young adults. On the contents page, the pictures of music artists stand out more against the grey background. All of the 6 pictures show what the main articles in this issue of the magazine are more likely to be about. All of the pictures have a bold number in red on to show what page the articles are on, and underneath have a quote from each article that the pictures are based on. For example a picture shows an artist from the band crystal castles, the quote underneath says "I was wringing the sweat out of my clothes. My wig almost came off". This quote from the picture shows that there is an interview in the magazine from the band Crystal Castles. The only writing on the contents pages shows The page numbers with what is on the pages and writing showing quotes from the article. At the top of the page in bold says the words 'INSIDE THIS WEEK' this may to replace the word 'contents' to make the page seem more interesting and the whole point of the page is for the reader to know what is going on inside the weekly magazine. 

Q magazine is set out like NME. This is because the articles inside are also based on rock type of music. Like NME the magazine is more likely to be based for an audience of mainly young adults that are interested in these kind of things. Part of the magazine has been put into a 'Regulars' category, in this category they will have the different articles that are most likely to be in every magazine issue. Unlike the other two magazines, Q has more writing on the contents page. For the main articles they state more information about what the articles are going to be about, for example, on the cover story it says 'Eighteen months ago he was making a solo album just to get out of the house'. This example of the article will give the reader a brief idea and make them want to turn to read on. The pictures are yet again related to the articles, They mainly show medium shots of artists which stand out upon a white background. The pictures add more colour and interest to the page, this is because they are more likely to be seen by the reader and make them want to look at the article i they are interested in the person the picture is of. The pictures on the contents page are more spread out than they are on the other magazines, this gives the page more space to fill in with article briefs and also able to include larger texts. The word 'contents' is written in black bold at the top of the page, this is then covered in cartoon people which are supposed to resemble either artists or what people may be like at festivals. This gives adds a comedic side to the top of the page and adds more exciting to the plain words.

We love pop is a magazine mainly based for a target age of young teenage females. This magazine has more fun to the contents page, this is because it has more colour and pictures of more well known people. The pictures all show close up of celebrity's and another brief of what the article is going to be about. All of the pictures on the contents page has been purposley posed for, in the studio and on the street. This means that some of the articles may be some interviews and some gossip. The pictures all show a stand out of colour and are more spread out. The writing underneath the pictures are either pink or blue, these colours together are more girly colours. In the left hand corner has a 'editors letter'. In this they talk about what is happening in this weeks magazine, this is different to the other magazines because none of the others has been given an editors letter on the contents page. The writing underneath the pictures are very simple, this may be because it is a magazine for young people and which means they are less likely to spend more time reading the contents page than reading the magazine. The magazine has its website page written at the bottom of every page, this may be because they are trying to promote their magazine more and try and gain more subscribers.

Analysing these magazine contents pages helps me to know how to try and put my magazine together. This is because I know how magazines have tried to base their pages for the certain target audience E.G pink for a girls based magazine. It also shows that most of the pictures are close ups of the artists people are most likely to be interested in so therefore making the contents page more interesting. By analysing the magazines it has helped me realise what kind of things that i may need to include and what kind of things are not needed. I also know what kind of things to include for my target audience.